Many people can sing with perfect pitch, but only when performing one of their favorite songs that, so to speak, is stuck in their heads.
This surprising discovery was made by a team from the University of California, Santa Cruz, which analyzed karaoke singing skills in 30 individuals. None of the volunteers were professional musicians, nor did they consider themselves to have perfect pitch. Over the course of two weeks, participants recorded themselves singing songs that came to mind.
According to the researchers, 44.7 percent of the recordings had zero pitch error, while 68.9 percent were accurate within a half-step of the original melody (the smallest musical interval for non-musicians).
A key indicator of perfect pitch is the ability to accurately identify a note on the first attempt. This trait is believed to be present in one in 10,000 people, as reported by Science Alert.
However, this statistic has never accounted for people singing well-known songs.
“This shows that a large portion of the population has some sort of automatic, hidden ability for perfect pitch,” said cognitive psychologist Matt Evans, the lead author of the study.
Another area the researchers hope to explore further in the future is how well we can assess our own singing abilities and, of course, our memory skills.
The study’s authors also suggested that many people may have better singing abilities than they believe, and that our brains may be equipped with more innate musical talents than scientists previously thought.
According to Matt Evans, many people do not allow themselves to engage in music and singing because they believe they cannot, or they have been told that they cannot.
The results of the study were published in the journal Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics.